Regional Jail is 70 per cent built

Construction crews continue to work on the new jail being built in Windsor's south end on Friday, February 15, 2013. The project is well into the second half of construction. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE / The Windsor Star)

It will still be more than a year before an inmate will be sleeping in a bunk at the South West Detention Centre in Windsor even though the facility is more than two-thirds complete, a provincial spokesman said of the $247 million facility.

The regional jail facility is 70 per cent complete, said Terence Foran, spokesman for Infrastructure Ontario, the provincial organization tasked with building the jail. Construction is expected to be done by this summer, he said.

“The building is nearly fully enclosed and interior work is the primary focus,” he said. “All trades such as mechanical and electrical are working in all areas of the building. On the exterior of the building, grading and road work is underway.”

The number of employees on site has increased since last summer. There are now about 180 workers at the construction site daily, five days a week, compared to 125 eight months ago.

Once the facility is complete, the project is turned over to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services for “commissioning,” which is the process where security features are installed at the jail, said Brent Ross, ministry spokesman. He refused to elaborate on the security features.

“The commissioning process can take as long as a year and involves installing additional security systems, staff training, accommodating unforeseen health and safety requests of staff, and the purchase, delivery and installation of furniture, equipment,” Ross said. ” With the commissioning process complete, operations can commence with the phased transfer of inmates into SWDC from the Windsor Jail, Sarnia Jail and Chatham Jail.”

The South West Detention Centre will have 315 beds filled with inmates from Windsor, Chatham and Sarnia. The 30-acre site on 8th Concession and Highway 401 will hold the 200,000-square-foot jail and a baseball diamond, cricket pitch and soccer field that can be used by the community.

The new facility will bring modern technological comforts to the incarcerated. There will be air conditioning and roomier space for inmates than what they enjoy now. The new jail replaces the 86-year cramped Windsor Jail that has a capacity for 138 inmates but the jail population can swell to 200 on weekends.

The combined inmate population for the three facilities was on average 272 in 2012, so the new facility should be large enough to accommodate the region’s needs, Ross said.

The province is expected to hire an additional 100 staff, bringing employment at the facility up to 250. The new regional jail is also expected to save the province money on operational costs. The province expects to spend $125 a day to feed and house an inmate at the new jail compared to $199, the amount it costs at the old Windsor Jail.

The South West Detention Centre is the third facility the province is building this year including two in the Toronto area. The three jails will add 400 beds to the provincial correction system.

Construction crews continue to work on the new jail being built in Windsor’s south end on Friday, February 15, 2013. The project is well into the second half of construction. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE / The Windsor Star)

Construction crews continue to work on the new jail being built in Windsor’s south end on Friday, February 15, 2013. The project is well into the second half of construction. (TYLER BROWNBRIDGE / The Windsor Star)

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